You could believe Joyce Craig’s promise to lower Manchester’s tax rate if elected as mayor, but not if you’ve been paying attention.

If Craig were making her first run for office, maybe she could have pretended to a be tax-fighter, at least until she had to bring forward a budget. But she has a track record from her time as an alderman, and it’s a record of taxing and spending.

In 2012, Craig voted with five others that she was willing to override Manchester’s tax cap if the city could not reach agreement with city teachers on a new contract. Had she been successful, she would have undermined the city’s bargaining position completely, making such an override a foregone conclusion.

Running against Mayor Ted Gatsas two years ago, Craig tried to blame him for her vote to bust through the tax cap, claiming that Gatsas had short-changed schools, forcing her to support more spending.

But Gatsas’ budget dedicated every dollar of new revenue to Manchester schools, level funding the rest of city government.

The unaffordable contract with city teachers, which Craig supported over a Gatsas veto, is what squeezed Manchester’s school budget.

Craig’s supporters know she would increase spending well above the cap. They know not to believe her empty promises of fiscal discipline. Craig is hoping to fool just enough voters who care about staying under the tax cap to get into office.